2008 Woodie Awards
Radical Islam class an important academic experience
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Opinion
History Prof. Steve Harmon's World Radical Islam class is an exciting and welcome addition to the list of PSU course offerings.
The new class, which explores the roots and tenets of radical Islam, offers students the opportunity to understand a group so often misunderstood in the United States and abroad.
Part of Harmon's rationale for teaching the course, to show students how radical Islam differs from mainstream Islam, is an idea whose importance cannot be overestimated. All Muslims do not adhere to the value systems and thinking behind the extremist movement that is part of radical Islam.
Not only is this idea of significant importance to anyone interested in world politics, it's of great use to anyone involved in the Pittsburg community. This city, not to mention this campus, is home to many Muslims who are just as devoted to family, education and even the American dream as anyone born and bred in Kansas.
If we are to operate as a community of tolerant, enlightened individuals, we must first be wary of making blanket statements about any group - religious, ethnic or otherwise. As Harmon himself points out, Muslims around the world are growing intolerant of what might be seen as the close-minded advances of Americans who do not fully understand the differences between one branch of Islam and another.
Peace is likely held in the understanding that Harmon advocates. And so his class is not only an academic endeavor, it's an exercise in basic humanity.
The new class, which explores the roots and tenets of radical Islam, offers students the opportunity to understand a group so often misunderstood in the United States and abroad.
Part of Harmon's rationale for teaching the course, to show students how radical Islam differs from mainstream Islam, is an idea whose importance cannot be overestimated. All Muslims do not adhere to the value systems and thinking behind the extremist movement that is part of radical Islam.
Not only is this idea of significant importance to anyone interested in world politics, it's of great use to anyone involved in the Pittsburg community. This city, not to mention this campus, is home to many Muslims who are just as devoted to family, education and even the American dream as anyone born and bred in Kansas.
If we are to operate as a community of tolerant, enlightened individuals, we must first be wary of making blanket statements about any group - religious, ethnic or otherwise. As Harmon himself points out, Muslims around the world are growing intolerant of what might be seen as the close-minded advances of Americans who do not fully understand the differences between one branch of Islam and another.
Peace is likely held in the understanding that Harmon advocates. And so his class is not only an academic endeavor, it's an exercise in basic humanity.
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